No radio stuff this Christmas, but I did get a new office chair for where I sit in my man cave in front of my computer. My old one gave out rather suddenly on me a couple of months ago. I leaned back and something snapped under me. I ended up doing a backward 360 onto the floor behind me. Didn't help my arthritis much, but I did learn 3 new words from the experience.

I did get a bit of cash though, so there may be some belated radio related stuff yet.

Always did like trains, especially Steam ones. I used to go to the Los Angeles Live Steamers park.When I was a Kid In Madison I would go down to the Train yard and help unload bags of mail and earn 25-50 cents for helping.

One time I was with my brother and cousin in Lake Mills WI walking along the RR tracks when a slow moving train went by, so on impulse my cousin jumped on the train, so being an idiot, not to be outdone, I grabbed the rungs of a ladder, and almost had my legs cut off by the wheels, but I tucked them under me just in time. My brother couldn't keep up with the train so my cousin dropped off and when I saw that he was no longer on the train I jumped off too. Well to make a short story long, when I jumped I landed on my hand, arms and knees. Boy those cinders sure cut up my skin.

Ah yes the good old days

_________________I'm a Science Thinker, Radio Tinkerer, and all around good guy. Just ask Me!

I got a new all metal PCC H.O. streetcar in the old Boston MTA orange paint scheme.It is an exact copy of the ones I rode 45 years ago ! She looked sweet and ran ULTRA smooth circling around the Christmas tree.

FWIW I TOO did STUPID things with REAL trains when I was a kid ( including hopping on freights several times- got caught by RR police once !)

Hi Everyone, OM Santa was real good to me this year! Lets see radio related, he brought me an Ensemble II SDR, HamCan 40m Transceiver, 300 feet of #14 antenna wire from DX Engineering and a MFJ 1708 T/R switch box, so I can use my tube transmitters without having to switch them manually. Just in time for the ARRL SKN (straight key night) on New Year's Eve and day.

I did have some other early radio related gifts from friends this year and even bought myself a gift of an inductance meter kit from electronicsDIY. The gifts from friends were all kinds of parts to help me build a nice DX crystal set. I got coils, coil forms, ceramic air variable capacitors, diodes, cloth covered magnet wire, litz wire, type 61 ferrite rods, switches, transformers and even a pair of sound powered headphones. Nearly all the parts for this crystal set were gifted to me. Maybe I should name it the friendship set?

All the neat radio stuff were great gifts, but the best gift I got this year was being able to walk again and visit with my family at Christmas. I'm crippled and real sickly at least 8 months out of the year and get twice annual surgical procedures that let me walk again and lots less pain. It only lasts a month or 2, but this year it fell during the holidays. I just pray that I can get that 300 feet of wire up in the air before the treatments wear off! The plan is to use it as a long wire for the "NonTest" in January and then convert it into a full wave 80m delta loop. I've never had a decent 80m antenna before. Anyway, that's my Christmas story for this year!

_________________73, Bill NT9KMelbourne FL[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]